Found a new website!

So after I did a little more research on Captain Chemo, I decided to compare this to another kids website. I wanted to look more at how people were using these sites. With Captain Chemo, it was obvious that children learned about cancer in an interactive, gaming way. This other website I found was http://www.cancerkids.org, and it had a kid feel (very colorful, etc.), however there were not any games like the Captain Chemo website. This website seemed to me as more of a place for parents to communicate with each other about conquering this awful disease. There was a place for people to write and read each others stories about children. Everything seemed to be categorized by what type of cancer the child had. This is true from everything from personal stories to the message boards. I really liked how they did it this way. They did this so that parents can read about other children who are going through the same things as their child. The children's stories are linked to the child's personal CaringBridge site (a blog site where the child's situation is explained), so the person reading the story can even communicate with other people going through the same thing directly.

I searched through a bunch of these websites, and I found a website that really hit home.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tylertucker

I have personal experience with the effects of cancer, so I signed the guest book and actually communicated with a few people about things that pertain to this. I realized from this personal experience how people are communicating on this website. For simple comments, the GuestBook is usually the best. People can just say little things like, "I'm praying for you!" or "Be strong". For more personal sharing, you have the option of emailing the person who created the CaringBridge blog (usually the parents of the sick child). Also, there were message boards on the CancerKids.org website that allowed for more public discussion. I thought it was all very interesting how many ways people can communicate with each other, and how specific the options for discussion can be.

With a site like this, I feel like there is a very personal aspect to it. The topic itself seems to bring a certain type of person to be participating in the site. Everyone has a common view of trying to cure cancer, as well as inform as many people as possible about it. By reading others' stories and talking with other people going through the same thing, I think this is a very effective website in promoting social activism in this area.